No Christmas cheer at UWS as University Executive moves to steamroll staff and students
1 Dec 2004
Management ‘proposals’ at the University of Western Sydney have left thousands of staff and students in doubt over the future of courses and Schools, the Union representing general and academic staff of the University said today.
The claim follows staff frustration which boiled over at a meeting yesterday of over 100 members of the National Tertiary Education Union which carried a vote of ‘no confidence’ in the University Executive. NTEU members will protest on Wednesday 8 December outside the meeting of the University’s governing body, the Board of Trustees.
Yesterday’s meeting also decided to notify a dispute with the University over management’s failure to consult over these changes. Included in the current proposals are plans for a radical restructure of the University’s Colleges and Schools. This comes on top of a recent but yet to be finalised round of organisational changes including ceasing an intake to courses in podiatry, osteopathy, Indonesian and aviation.
‘Constant and ill-considered change with no consultation is having an horrendous effect on staff and student morale and the functioning of the University‘ said Ms Robyn Moroney, President of the UWS Branch of the NTEU.
‘Staff at UWS are committed to the institution and will welcome and encourage positive changes and improvements which will ensure that the integrity of its teaching programmes and research are maintained. We also want to contribute our institutional knowledge so that decisions aren’t left to managers and consultants who aren’t involved in the core business of the University – the delivery and conduct of its teaching and research programmes’.
‘Yet that is exactly what has happened here. At best, we get a tokenistic discussion paper after a decision has been made, and they call it consultation’ she said.
Staff are also concerned with management’s desire to introduce an unfair and draconian system of monitoring workloads which threatens to stall the finalisation of enterprise agreement negotiations.
NTEU protest outside Board of Trustees
meeting
Commencing 8:30am, Wednesday 8
December
Frogmore House, UWS Werrington North Campus
Great Western Highway, Werrington
For further information or comment,
contact:
Robyn Moroney, NTEU UWS Branch President
(02) 4570 1931, 0417 651 945